Brendan Rodgers said Liverpool are legitimate title challengers after a pulsating 5-3 victory over Stoke City that took his team back into the top four and just five points adrift of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, reports the Guardian.

Luis Suarez scored another two goals to take his tally for the season to 22, whilst Daniel Sturridge marked his return from injury with a goal and an assist to help Liverpool record their first ever Premier League win at the Britannia.

Rodgers said he believes the Reds are ‘improving all the time’ and remain ‘in the conversation’ with regards to the title race.

When asked if anything was possible this season, Rodgers replied:

“Yeah, absolutely. We entered into the game today, 18 games to go, nine at home, nine away, knowing seven of those nine away were against teams in the bottom half.

That doesn’t mean they are gimmes by any means – it is a very tough league – but certainly we have shown enough that we are going to be challenging and that is all we ever wanted to be.

We never stated we are going to win the league, to jump from where we have been at, we just needed to be in the conversation.”